Hand of Fate
by XIIIth Hazard
Summary: We all know Danny is half ghost, we all know how it happened. But where's the story? (Just my idea for the missing origin episode of Danny Phantom)
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Danny Phantom

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 _ **Hand of Fate**_

 __Chapter 1:

"No," Danny proclaimed sourly as he leveled his chin into his hand and continued attempting to read his history book, without much success.

"Oh, come on," Sam complained at the other end of his bed, "Just _one_ picture?" She added with a set of those pretty little eyes which _used_ to work on her friends, when they were eight, but they seemed to have become immune over time.

"No," Danny answered again, before sighing, and closed his book when the words forbid him to make sense of them, "My parents would kill me if I brought unauthorized people into their lab."

"But we're not unauthorized, we're like family," Sam proclaimed, earning a glare from her best friend.

"Are you _trying_ to get me grounded?" He muttered, leaving her to smile.

"Is it working?" She countered sarcastically and he sighed, "Oh, come on, Danny, you really need to live a little, take some risks, do something you've never done before."

"And you want me to start with my parent's lab, where, I should remind you, they keep things that could possibly level the house."

"Tell me again, _why_ do we always study at your house?" Tucker put in nervously, leaning over the back of the chair he had been sitting backwards as he messed with several things on his PDA.

"Because, your parents would actually _make_ us study," Sam informed him truthfully, which caused the boy to think that over for a moment.

"Good point," He admitted, before looking to her sternly, "Then why don't we ever go to _your_ house?" He added, leaving her to glare at him for a moment, before turning back to Danny as she dropped the topic.

"Come on, Danny, what do you say?"

"You are not gonna let this go, are you?" He muttered sourly, turning to look at her as well, where he noticed that familiar look in her eyes, the one she usually donned when he was about to unknowingly agree to save an endangered species of orange or help organize a petition for the rights of earthworms.

"Alright," He finally relented and threw his book onto the bed and got to his feet, "Not like we were actually studying anyway," He added, causing her to whoop with joy as she and Tucker got up to follow him.

"Honestly, dude, you act like you're breaking into a bank," Tucker stated as he watched his friend check around every corner before rounding it, getting ever closer to the basement.

"You don't know my parents like I do, they have a crazy sixth sense about their lab," Danny whispered back truthfully as they finally entered the kitchen.

"They're 30 miles away and not supposed to be back until tomorrow," Sam informed him dryly, "I think you'll be okay."

"That's what they _want_ you to think," Danny muttered, before leading the way down the stairs into the metal-lined room full of all kinds of strange gizmos, whatchamacallits and things that probably didn't do what they were supposed to.

"Wow," Tucker and Sam exclaimed in amazement, truth be told, they'd known Danny long enough to have seen the lab at least a dozen times, but this time was different, as there was a very new and very large addition to the room, in the form of a rather high-tech _hole_ in the far wall.

"So, that's the ' _portal_ '?" Sam asked with air quotes as she walked over to take a look inside, making sure to stay out of range, as she was also aware that some of the things in the lab were very dangerous, despite their design to hunt _ghosts_ – of all things.

"Yeah," Danny muttered dryly as he leaned against a table and folded his arms, "They've been working on it since before I was born; it's supposed to tear a hole in the fabric of space to reach the ' _ghost_ _dimension'_ ; which is, supposedly, the flip side of the coin to our world."

"That is so _cool_ ," Sam exclaimed with a smile.

"If you say so," Danny mused as Tucker walked back over to him, obviously already bored again himself, "Now, can we please get out of here, I'm one incident away from my parents putting a ghost camera in my room."

"Oh, fine," Sam relented as she took one last picture, before noticing something slung over a nearby chair and grinned, "Danny, come stand by the patrol," She ordered as she picked up the white and black jumpsuit.

"Why?" He complained simply, leaving her to turn and glare at him, which in turn caused him to push away from the table and walk over anyway, "If I had known I'd have to _pose_ for you every three seconds when you said you wanted to make a scrapbook, I would have suggested you collect stamps."

"Oh, stop complaining," She ordered as she handed him the suit and positioned him in front of a control panel near the portal opening, before moving back to lift her camera. "Smile," She added, but he just continued to glare at the device as the flash went off and momentarily blinded him.

"Okay, I showed you the portal; can we please get out of here now?" He begged as he moved to lay the suit back on the chair, taking a moment to make sure it was _exactly_ how it had been left, "Besides – they say it doesn't work anyway," He added, causing his friends to look at him as they recognized the familiar slouch in his shoulders.

Truth be told, Danny had been there when his parents had attempted to start up the patrol and had watched as 20 years of passionate work and hope _died_ with the failed activation. He'd mentioned a few times how bad he felt when watching his parents mope about the house and wanted to do something to cheer them up, but didn't know what.

However, as Sam moved to look inside the portal once again, somehow feeling _drawn_ to the thing, like the hand of fate was guiding her to be there at that very moment, she suddenly got the idea of just how he could do that.

"Why don't you check it out," She proclaimed suddenly, causing her friends to look at her in shock.

"Ex-squeeze me?" Danny exclaimed, but she quickly waved him off.

"Come on, Danny, you know your parents; they may be geniuses, but they have a knack for not noticing the obvious. _You_ can give them a critical eye, someone to _see_ what they missed."

"She's got a point, dude," Tucker put in truthfully.

"And, besides, a _Ghost Portal_ – you gotta check that out," Sam stated with a smile, causing her friends to smile back slightly.

"Maybe you're right," Danny whispered more to himself than them, as he looked back at the empty portal and his smile grew a little wider, before he picked up the jumpsuit again and moved to pull it on over his clothes and zipped it up as he turned to the doorway.

"Hold on," Sam exclaimed in annoyance and promptly walked over to reach out and gently pry the image of his father's face from the front of his suit, "I know you love your dad, Danny, but that's a little much," She announced truthfully and tossed the sticker onto a pile of others on a nearby table; which his parents used to identify most of their Fenton Works projects.

Danny smiled to her again, then looked to Tucker, who gave him a thumbs up before finally turning back to the portal and carefully stepped inside, making sure to avoid the many cords and technology scattered about on the floor.

"What do you see?" Sam called to him as he checked to plugs and connections, things that his parents might have missed by accident when more concerned about the actual building of the thing.

"Not much," He admitted, "It's kind of dark in –" He started again, but cut himself off when he suddenly heard something that sounded an awful lot like – _whispering_ , "Did you say something?" He asked his friends as he moved a little closer to the wall, noticing that the noise got louder as he did so.

"No," Tucker answered, "Why, what do you hear?"

"I don't know – but I think it might actually be _ghosts_ ," He proclaimed as he leaned his hands against the wall and pulled back again quickly when he felt a strange cold feeling crawl up his skin, "Oh, yeah, that's definitely _ghosts_ ," He added, recognizing the sensation as one from a device his parents had made several years back that produced the same effects such a creature would have on the human body.

"My parents were _definitely_ on to something with this thing," He continued as he looked behind him in response to a rather loud whisper, after years of living with his ghost-obsessed family, he wasn't really _scared_ of them anymore, but to say the sound wasn't a little creepy would have been a lie, "I wonder if they –" He started again as he reached out to use the wall to straighten himself out again, only for something to give way under his hand, causing him to quickly pull back, only to discover it was the ' _On'_ button.

"Oh, no," Those were the last words he got out before a blinding light interrupted his thoughts and suddenly the portal was activated, sending a _massive_ amount of electricity jolting through his body, causing him to scream in pain for but a moment before everything went black.

…

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker yelled together, intending to run to the portal and drag their friend out, but they were quickly forced to back away as energy poured from the hole in the wall, like some kind of jet engine running on radioactive green fire.

The two kids ducked into a corner as the energy proceeded to form a _wall_ around the inner lining of the doorway, periodically lowering the amount of power released, until finally it all stopped, leaving only the dull glow of the red emergency lights and a swirling green vortex in the place where the portal had once stood empty and abandoned.

"Danny!" Sam screamed again as she jumped back to her feet and rushed to the doorway, tears threatening to spill from her eyes as she looked inside the portal to the spot where she had last seen her friend.

"There," Tucker called out as they noticed a form that seemed to hold the same shape as Danny, floating within the tunnel of the vortex, but something was _off_ about him. "Maybe we can –" Tucker started again, looking around at the many gadgets around the walls for anything that could safely reach in and grab their friend, but Sam was having none of it and promptly jumped through the portal and ran to his side, clearly not receiving or not _noticing_ anything that might be happening to her as a response, "Or we could do that," Tuck added, before following her. Despite honestly being scared out of his mind, he wasn't going to leave his best friend to die.

Together, he and Sam were able to pull Danny out of the portal and back into the real world, barely noticing that he seemed to weight nothing at all as they laid him on the floor in an attempt to figure out if he was even alive.

"Danny," Sam begged, gently reaching out to touch his face, where she noticed his jet black hair had suddenly become _snow white_.

"I think he's _breathing_ ," Tucker announced, laying his ear against his friend's chest and took notice of the fact that he was extremely _cold_ and that his heartbeat was so slow it was nearly nonexistent, "We need to get him to the hospital," He added as he moved to get to his feet again, completely forgetting his particular _fear_ of such places.

"Wait," Sam ordered, when their friend suddenly made a moaning sound and turned his head slightly as if in pain, "Danny?" She asked, gently moving to lift his head off the ground and placed it in her lap, "Danny, _please_ , open your eyes," She begged, trying desperately to keep herself from crying, knowing that he needed her to stay strong.

He let out another pained noise and a wince this time before finally doing as she asked, but as he opened his eyes to look up at her, she immediately noticed they were not the same bright blue irises she'd come to love, but, instead, they glowed with an eerie neon _green_.

"Danny?" She asked, as if needing to know if it was still _him_.

"What happened?" He countered, causing her to jump as his voice come out in a completely unnatural _echo_ of his formal voice, "Sam?" He started again looking up at her in confusion, clearly unaware of the changes, that is until his head suddenly fell backward and hit the floor in response to his body becoming _intangible_.

Sam couldn't help but scream at the strange sensation and jumped back, however, as Danny began to freak out himself, trying to get up and figure out what had happened, she found herself rushing back to his side. Despite the strange circumstances, she couldn't' bring herself to leave him when he clearly needed her.

"Danny, Danny, stop! It's okay," She ordered as she grabbed his hands to keep him from panicking, only for him to phase through her again, which did not go over well with the already horrified teenager, causing him to pull away in terror and fell onto his back, obviously unable to control his motor-functions just yet.

"What's going on, what's happening to me?" He begged, still trying to get on his feet, causing Tucker to quickly attempt helping him, but even he wasn't able to make contact with the intangible presence of his friend, which only made Danny panic that much more until Sam finally put her foot down.

"Danny!" She ordered loudly, causing him to freeze as he turned to her and she walked up in a manner that she hoped appeared calmer than she actually was, " _Calm_ _down_ ," She commanded kindly as she realized she finally had his attention, which thankfully seemed to reach his frazzled mind, causing him to take in several deep breaths in an attempt to do just that, which, eventually, allowed her to reach out and finally touch him as he became tangible again, but continued to shake uncontrollably.

"Are you okay?" She asked, leaving him to look at her with fear in his eyes.

"I don't know," He admitted, reaching up to hug himself, trying to control the shaking, but had no luck in the matter, "It – _hurts_ ," He finally admitted, causing his friends to step a little closer.

"What hurts, Danny?" Sam asked gently.

" _Everything_ ," He answered unhelpfully, closing his eyes as he struggled to deal with the pain and she nodded, before carefully leading him over to an examination table that was hooked up to several machines that were meant to test for anomalies and forced him to sit down, noticing that he seemed to almost _float_ about in response to her guidance, as if he didn't weight a thing.

"Tucker, do you think you can work it?" She asked as she took Danny's hand and rubbed it gently in an attempt to keep him calm.

"Yeah," Tuck answered, quickly rounding the table in order to bring up the screen on a computer and started typing away on the keyboard to start a scan, "Okay, buddy, lay down."

"I – I don't know if I can," Danny admitted around his shivering, "What if I –"

"It's ghost proof, Danny, you won't phase through it," Sam interrupted, causing him to look back at her like a lost puppy, before nodding and carefully moved to lay flat on the table and allowed Tucker to do his thing, but continued to clutch at Sam's hand, as if afraid that he'd disappear into nothing if he didn't hold on to something real.

Danny jumped slightly as the scan started, causing Tucker to panic himself, knowing very well that if he _was_ a ghost, the machine could actually hurt him, same as some of the other equipment in the room had been deigned to do.

"You okay, dude?" He asked quickly.

"Yeah," Danny answered nervously, "It just kind of – _tingles_."

"Alright," Tucker exclaimed with a relieved sigh before looking back around as the computer let out a ding of competition.

"Tucker, what is it?" Sam demanded as her friend went quiet in response to the information on the screen and Danny quickly sat up again as well.

"He's – he's a – _ghost_ ," Tucker finally responded after nearly half a minute of silence passed between them, enough time for _sadness_ to creep into his voice.

"You mean I'm –" Danny started to asked, but was unable to finish the statement as he looked back at Sam, hoping that she would have another answer, which was how he noticed something over the sink opposite him and before either of his friends could complain, he rushed to the mirror in a panic, where he found himself looking at the green eyed, white haired face of something he totally didn't recognize.

"Oh, boy," He stated, feeling another panic attack coming on, as his friends walked over in an attempt to calm him down again, but, before they could accomplish the task, Danny's mind finally had enough and shut itself down and he lost consciousness again.

"Danny," Sam called in panic, but she and Tucker were able to catch him before he could hit the floor. However, as they tried again to make more sense of the situation, a suddenly flash of white blinded them for a moment in the near dark of the room, as two rings of light traveled the length of Danny's form in opposite directions, changing his clothes and body as they did so, until eventually their friend rested before them again, just as _normal_ as he had been before the accident.

"What just happened?" Sam asked in shock, but Tucker didn't have an answer and just shook his head as he mouth hung open in astonishment, "Let's get him back on the table," She ordered and they quickly moved to pick him up again, immediately noticing that his weight had returned and he'd stopped phasing through everything.

The lights finally came on again, as they gently placed him back on the bed and Tucker rushed around to reactivate the scanner and a moment later looked at the screen with confusion written all over his face.

"He's – _human_ ," He muttered as he looked back at his unconscious friend with a raised eyebrow, "But, how can that be? Just a minute ago he was a ghost."

"Tucker," Sam whispered as she took Danny's hand once again, glad to discover that his warmth had returned as well, before she looked up at her other friend and finished her statement, "I think he's – _both_."

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Reviews Please

XD


	2. Chapter 2

I had planed on this only being a one-shot, but then I realized I didn't mark it as "Complete," so I decided to just continue it until I hit the point where the Episode: "Mystery Meat" should start; which probably won't be that far away.

^-^;

Enjoy

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Chapter 2:

"Danny," Sam whispered as she sat on the edge of his bed and gently ran her fingers through his hair, causing him to stir a little more, before finally opening his eyes with a groan.

"Oh, man," He complained, "I had the _weirdest_ dream," He added, before reaching up to rub his head, only to wince when the movement caused him quite a bit of pain, forcing Sam to quickly grab his hand and pull it down so he'd stop trying to perform tasks that would hurt him.

"I bet," She agreed with a little smile, but he noticed immediately that it was the one she used when trying to hide things from him.

"What happened?" He asked worriedly, attempted to sit up before she pushed him back down again.

"Just stop moving, okay," She ordered kindly, causing him to obey, despite himself and just looked at her questionably as he she continued, "Danny – there was an _accident_ ; you were hurt pretty bad. You've been out of it for several hours."

"Hours," He repeated, trying to wrap his mind around that as he turned to look out his window and discovered it was now night-time, but before he had the chance to ask another question, Tucker entered the room and immediately smiled as he noticed his friend was awake.

"Hey, dude, how ya feelin'?" He asked quickly, causing Danny to grin back as he walked over to the bed as well.

"A little – _confused_ ," He admitted and his friends laughed lightly, but the good humor died down again as Danny lifted his hand to examine it, as if expecting it to do something it shouldn't normally do, before looking back at them quietly, "Um – for the record, what – _else_ – happened?" This caused his friends to look at each other worriedly, which immediately told him that something was very wrong, "Guys?" He insisted, before Sam took over again.

"You parents are back," She started, clearly trying to change the subject as she grabbed his hands and held them both in hers, not allowing him to see them anymore, "They called a doctor, he checked you out while you were asleep."

"He's still downstairs," Tucker put in quickly, before Danny could respond to her, "He says you received some electrical burns and will probably be sore and sluggish for a while, but you should be okay."

"Cool," Danny answered simply, looking between them questionably, "Now – what _aren't_ you telling me?"

"Don't worry about it," Sam ordered, "It was probably _nothing_."

"Nothing?" Tucker repeated quickly, earning an elbow to the ribs, which caused him to double over in pain, "Yeah – what she said," He agreed breathlessly, but Danny wasn't stupid and he wasn't buying it.

"Guys," He insisted, feeling his panic start up again, his friends had never continually tried to keep something from him like this before and it was seriously making him nervous. But, before either of them could answer, Danny suddenly found himself falling _through_ his bed with a shout of surprise and probably would have fallen through the floor as well if he hadn't wanted to go back _up_ so badly.

"What the-" He panicked, before hitting his head on the bottom of his bed then phased back through it, only to realize he was standing _in_ the thing and fell backwards with a startled yelp, causing his friends to quickly round the room in an attempt to help him.

"Danny, Danny, its okay, just calm down," Sam insisted as he grabbed his hands again, which were thankfully solid and Tucker moved to grab his shoulders. But, by this point, Danny was in full on panic mode and the fight-or-flight instinct seemed to take on a completely different meaning for a _ghost_ , as he promptly underwent the same change they had seen in the basement, just the other way around this time reverting to his ghost form.

This, of course, only caused him to freak all over again and, before either of his friends could try to control the situation, they found themselves flying up through the ceiling and several layers of the Fenton family home until they were floating a good 40 feet above the roof of the Ops Center.

"Danny, _DOWN_!" Sam called in fear as she and Tucker hung onto him for dear life, "Go back down!"

"Okay, okay," He answered, trying desperately to remain in the air, if not for himself than for his friends, which seemed to be the channel he needed to finally gain control and gently lower them onto the roof, where they all let out a big sigh of relief as they fell to their knees.

But the craziness wasn't over yet, for Danny suddenly started floating again, forcing his friends to quickly grab him and pull him back to earth.

"Danny, listen to me," Sam ordered as she reached around to grab his face and forced him to look at her, "These powers are at least _somewhat_ controlled by your _emotions_. You need to _calm down_."

"Okay," He answered as he took in several deep breaths and closed his eyes in an attempt to gain control again, causing him to fall to the ground at the floating ceased and his friends let out another sigh.

It took several minutes, but he was eventually able to regain his full composure and sat up to look at his hands curiously, leaving his mind to try and riddle out what had happened to him.

"I'm – I'm a – _ghost_ ," He stated simply, before letting out a crazy little laugh that thankfully didn't last long as he looked toward the top of the Ops Center, which he quickly remembered was designed to _hunt_ said creatures, "Oh boy –" He added, reaching up to grip his head and struggled again to chill out, "I'm a _ghost_ – sitting on top of a house full of ghost hunting equipment. Am I out of my _mind_?"

"It's okay," Sam insisted.

"Yeah, dude," Tucker put in as Danny looked at them again, "We ran another test when you passed out, you're not _just_ a ghost; you're still human."

"Is that even _possible_?" Danny asked in confusion, this sudden realization seeming to finally return him to his usual state of mind, if a little more serious than normal.

"It must be," Sam proclaimed, "I don't know _how_ , but you've managed it."

"Well I –" Danny added as he looked down at his hands again, "I _feel_ better anyway, it doesn't hurt anymore."

"That's always good," Tucker encouraged with a smile, but Danny didn't return it as he moved to stand on his feet again, still struggling to control his shaking.

"Yeah, but – now what do I do? I can't let my parents see me like _this_ ; they'll tear me apart molecule by molecule."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, they wouldn't do that," Sam countered, expecting to hear some back up from Tucker, but it never came, causing her to glare at him accusingly.

"I don't know Sam," He put in, "You should have seen his dad when he found out the portal was working. He's already preparing his scalpels."

"Tucker," Sam growled, before looking back at Danny who had grown a few shades whiter in the last several seconds, "Danny, it's gonna be okay," She insisted, reaching out to grab his hand again, partly to comfort him and partly to make sure he didn't fly off and never come back.

"Yeah – of-of course it is," He stuttered, before holding up a finger, "Will you excuse me for a minute?" He asked, before phasing through her hand to walk a few feet away where he fell to his knees and threw up.

His friends were at his side in an instant, but that didn't stop the poor guy from hyperventilating at the thought of being captured and dissected by his own parents, or _worse_ , the possibly of running away from them.

"Don't worry, dude," Tucker put in supportively, "Maybe we can find a way to reverse this and make you normal again; then your parents will never know."

"You think?" Danny asked nervously.

"Yeah, sure," He proclaimed confidently, "I mean – if they made something that could make you half ghost, it's only reasonable that they could make something to change you back."

"We'll discuss it later," Sam announced then as that brought to mind something rather important, "But, right now, I think it would be a good idea to change back to Danny _Fenton_ , so when your parents come up to your room to see their little boy, you'll be there."

"Good point," Tucker stated, only for them to look back at their friend, who appeared even more confused than he'd been a moment ago – if that were possible.

"Change _back_?" He repeated, "How on earth am I supposed to do _that_?"

"Um," The two muttered at the same time, before looking at each other questionably.

"Well – the last time you _passed_ out, I guess it would be reasonable that it would happen again if we _hit_ you," Tucker suggested.

"Nice," Sam complained sourly, leaving him to throw his hands in the air.

"Hey, I'm trying!"

"It doesn't matter," Danny insisted as he stood up again, "I'm willing to try anything right now," He announced, before holding out his arms in indication that he was ready for them to do whatever it took to knock him into unconsciousness.

…

"Ow!" Danny complained and quietly rubbed his head after Tucker had hit him as hard at he could for the _17_ _th_ time, but still he wouldn't go down.

"Well, at least he _felt_ it that time," The other boy pointed out and shook his hand, which was starting to go numb.

"Danny, this isn't working," Sam announced as she threw her weapon away, "Your body must be _stronger_ than a normal human's. We just can't cause any damage."

"Then what am I supposed to do? I don't _wanna_ live on the streets, I _like_ it here," He panicked again, which nearly caused him to fall through the roof again, but he managed to catch himself with some well-timed floating.

"Maybe we just need to make you _forget_ that you're a ghost," Tucker suggested, causing Sam to think that over as he put a hand to his chin in thought, "The question is ho–" He started again only for Sam to interrupt the conversation and walk up to Danny with a purpose, where she grabbed his shoulders and forced him closer to the ground in order to – _kiss him_.

Tucker blinked in utter shock as he watched his friends close their eyes in response to the moment, causing Danny to gently float back down until his feet touched the ground again, where the two rings of white light that had appeared before returned and transformed him back into his human form.

"That – works too," The techno geek proclaimed with an amused little smile as his friends continued to enjoy the moment, clearly having completely forgotten what they were doing beforehand.

However, the scene was shattered when a noise from the roof door alerted them to the fact that someone was coming through, causing Sam and Danny to quickly pull away as Maddie and Jack Fenton burst through the door in full on ghost hunter mood, nearly causing Danny to run, but Sam quickly grabbed his hand to make sure he stayed put.

"Danny!" His mother quailed with happiness as she dropped her weapon and, apparently, the hunter attitude she had been about to lay on the _ghost_ they were detecting on their roof only moments before and rushed over to hug her child, "Oh, my baby, are you okay? How are you feeling?" She proclaimed as she pulled back to examine him lovingly, leaving Danny to smile despite himself.

"I'm fine," He answered honestly, before hugging her back as his father came over to get in on the embrace as well, "I'm okay."

* * *

AWWW

;U;

Reviews Please


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Sam and Tucker were already planning to stay at the Fenton household that night, to keep Danny company with his parents going to their convention thing. So they were able to keep an eye on him as he talked with the adults and continually insisted that he was alright, until, finally, they were convinced.

Though Maddie proceeded to fuse over him and his father asked questions about what he had _seen_ in the ghost portal, nether of them were really that mad, despite the fact that they clearly _wanted_ to be, they couldn't help but feel touched that their son was willing to walk into a potentially unstable machine just to help make their dream come true.

It was with this train of thought that the situation eventually chilled out enough that Danny wasn't on the edge of his seat, constantly worrying that he would either loose control or they would discover his secret, which, finally, allowed him to relax again.

In fact, he was so relaxed by the end of the day, that he was able to sit down and watch movies with his friends well in to midnight, without even recalling what had happened to him.

But it apparently wasn't meant to last, for when he started to fall asleep on the floor of his room, the suddenly sensation of _falling_ had him wide awake again and moment later he discovered he was no longer in his room on the second floor, but back in the lab in the basement.

"Ow," He told the darkness, before the emergency lights came on in response to his movement. Somewhere along the lines, he discovered that this time around he was more _annoyed_ than scared and just continued to lay there and listen to Sam and Tucker quietly rushing down the stairs to find him.

"Dude, are you okay?" Tucker declared, as Danny lifted his hand to study it, realizing that he was in his ghost form again.

"Yeah," He muttered sourly and let it fall again, before sighing loudly and moved to sit up, " _That_ is gonna get _old_ ," He complained as his friends moved to either side of him and pulled him to his feet.

"Okay, we've _got_ to work on controlling this," Sam insisted sternly, "You're gonna get _caught_ if we don't.

"I agree," He put in calmly, "The question is _how_?"

"Well –" Tucker exclaimed as he waved a hand at the room, "Your parents _are_ ghost hunters, maybe they have some information on the topic."

"Good point," Danny admitted, before looking toward the computer where he knew his parents kept all their test results, causing Tucker to grin, before walking over to the device and carefully broke in.

"It's for a good cause," He muttered to himself as he flipped through the flies, before finally coming upon a folder titled _ghost powers_ , "Alright, now we're onto something," he announced with glee and scrolled through the data.

"Basic powers that all ghosts possess," He read off calmly, "Flight, intangibility, invisibility, supernatural strength, speed, durability, agility, dexterity and reflexes – okay you gotta admit that sounds cool," He added as he turned back to his friends, only one of whom seemed to actually agree with him and it _wasn't_ Danny.

"Says the person who didn't just receive a very _rude_ wake-up call," The ghost boy muttered sourly.

"Good point," Tucker agreed, before turning back to the screen again.

"Let's start with intangibility, that's the one he seems to have the biggest problem with," Sam encouraged, causing the geek to quickly go into the file.

"Okay – intangibility," Tucker read off again, "Allows the user to move through solid objects, ignoring most physical effects in their way."

"Yeah, I've noticed," Danny complained as he folded his arms in annoyance, "How do I _stop it_?" He growled as Tucker read a little more.

"Could be activated by _fear_ –" He stated quickly, before smiling sheepishly, "But –exact means are _unknown_ ," He proclaimed, leaving Danny to whine loudly as he deflated and looked at the ceiling in distress.

"Why is this happening to me?" He begged, causing Sam to touch his shoulder gently.

"It's okay; we just need to figure it out. There's got to be a way," She informed him truthfully.

"Says here the effects can be neutralized by _ghost-proof nets_ ," Tucker added.

"That's a start," She admitted.

"And may possibly require the user to –" Tucker began again, before going quiet as he re-read the line just to make sure he had it right, "To – _hold_ their _breath_ ," He finally explained, before making an impressed sound, "Well, okay then."

"But I haven't been holding my breath," Danny complained, but quickly made a face as he realized that might not be entirely true, "At least – I don't _think_ I have."

"Okay, let's start with that," Sam instructed as he moved him over to stand next to a table and laid his palm on the surface, "Try it now."

With this, he calmly took a breath and held it for just a moment, which almost immediately caused him to fall through the thing, however, he quickly became tangible again when he stopped the action, resorting in his him getting stuck in the table and wrenching up one of the legs, where it was _bolted_ to the floor when he tried to pull it back.

"Super strength," Tucker reminded him as he endeavored to grab anything he could to avoid it crashing to the ground.

"Right, right," Danny muttered, before chilling out again and quietly phased his hand back out.

"Okay, let's try something a little less – _destructive_ ," Sam suggested, before moving to look at the screen again, "How about _flight_ , that seems innocent enough?"

"Got ya," Tucker agreed as he got into the new file, "The power to defy gravity and propel one's self through the air at will," He read off quietly as his eyes scanned the rest of the page, looking for anything to help his friend, "Say's here that it's possibly activated by the flight response to fear or – happiness."

"Simple enough," Danny admitted as he backed away several steps before looking back at them with a little smile, "Where should I go?" He added jokingly, "Texas, France – I wonder if I could make it to the _moon_?"

"Lets just start with ' _up'_ for now," Sam stated with a small laugh, admittedly happy that her friend had found at least _one_ thing to make this whole situation a tiny bit better. After all, for as long as she had known him, Danny had always wanted to _fly_.

"Alright," He agreed, before looking at the ceiling with some slight concentration, which quickly resulted in him floating several off the ground and he smiled again, "Well, at least one of them is _easy_ ," He announced as he continued to float upwards, not noticing that he was going a little too high, until his head came in contact with the ceiling hard enough to make his friends wince.

"Ow," He muttered sourly as he worked to float back down and rubbed the offend spot, causing Tucker to laugh out loud, "Keep it up and I'll phase you into a wall," Danny threatened sternly and the laughter promptly died again.

"Okay, how about invisibility?" Sam insisted, before someone did something they could regret, leaving Tucker to bring up a new page.

"Invisibility," He quoted, "The ability to become completely transparent to most forms of vision, but susceptible to infrared," He added, before reading down again, "Users may turn invisible if threatened and may be reverted back when calm."

"So – it sounds like we had the right idea, the best thing is to just _stay calm_ ," Sam announced and Danny nodded in agreement as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"But what about turning back?" He finally asked, motioning to himself sternly, "I can't keep going ghost every five seconds."

"Hey – _Goin' Ghost_ , that could be your battle cry," Tucker proclaimed with a grin, causing his friends to raise any eyebrow at him, which left him to quickly turn back to the computer and started typing again, "Or – we could discus it later," He added as he typed again.

"Why would I need a _battle cry_ ; it's not like I'll be doing this much longer?" Danny mussed sourly as he turned to look at the portal, which was, thankfully, closed this time around, "Once we find a way to change me back, that'll be the _end_ of this little adventure."

"Have you ever considered _staying_ this way?" Sam asked suddenly, causing him to look at her in shock.

"What?" He demanded, "Why would I –"

"Think about it, Danny, you've been given a once in a lifetime opportunity. You have the power to truly make a difference in the world."

"Like how?" He muttered sourly.

"Flight, super strength, invisibility," Tucker quoted as he continued to search the computer for anything on their current question, "That's one step up from _Superman_ , dude, even he couldn't go intangible."

"Yeah and now I know _why_?" Danny complained as he folded his arms and huffed dryly, "He would have never gotten any _sleep_."

"It figures you'd be the one boy on the planet that _wouldn't_ be thrilled to have superpowers," Sam exclaimed mutely, causing said teen to look at her, before sighing again.

"Okay, maybe your right," He admitted as he let his arms fall again, "I guess I – _could_ give the superhero thing a try. But only if I can get control of these powers, if I can't at least do that, I'll probably cause more harm than good."

"True," She agreed, before looking back at Tucker, "Have you found anything yet?"

"Nope," He announced as he turned his chair to look at them again, "Sorry, dude, but it looks like – _Goin' Ghost_ is unique to you," He said with a smile at his little joke.

"Wonderful," Danny muttered dryly, "There _has_ to be another way to do it."

"Oh, I don't know," Tucker stated with a grin, "It looked like you really _enjoyed_ the last time," He announced promptly, causing his friends to blush and look away from each other.

"Maybe –" Danny admitted absentmindedly, before quickly forcing his mind back on track and continued the statement before anyone could read into the word, "BUT – it would really be better to find a more _conventional_ method."

"Good point," Tucker proclaimed as he stood up and walked back over to the examine table they had used before. Though he wasn't quite ready to give up on them just yet, keeping Danny from being discovered and dissected was still his top priority. "Why don't we see what else we can find with this thing?" He put in as he laid his hand on the screen attached to the table, "We were a little _panicked_ last time, maybe with a clearer mind we'll see something we didn't before."

"True," Danny agreed as Sam walked over to the table as well, but looking back when she noticed he didn't follow, "Sorry –" He added nervously, "I just – _hope_ I never find myself on that thing of _other_ reasons."

"It's okay," She answered as she reached out to take his hand again and smiled at him, "We're not gonna let anything happen to you."

"I thought _I_ was supposed to be the superhero?" He stated with a little smile of his own.

"Yes, but even superheroes need superheroes," She informed him sternly, before pulling him toward the table gently and allowed him to lay down when was ready, but still continued to hold his hand as he was clearly still very nervous, but seemed okay with the action so long as his friends were there with him.

"Okay," Tucker announced as the machine finished its _deep_ scan of his form and he quietly compared it to the last scan he'd taken, which he had thankfully thought to download into his PDA before Danny's parents had come back.

"Anything?" Danny asked quietly as he turned his head up to look at him.

"The ghost energy seems to be building at your _core_ ," He explained, "Probably because your molecules are _stabilizing_."

"I guess that makes sense," Danny muttered, before looking at the ghost portal thoughtfully, "I wonder if the ecto-plasm from the Ghost Zone was somehow _fused_ into my DNA, creating a self-generating, but _distinct_ mass of energy. That would explain why I have _two_ forms."

"Yeah – it _would_ – how do you know that?" Tucker demanded sternly, causing his friend to make a face.

"Tuck, I've spent the last 14 years of my life listening to my parents blather on about ghosts, some of it was _bound_ to sink in," He muttered truthfully.

"Good point," He admitted, before looking back at the screen, "But by that theory, it would be reasonable to assume that when you're a ghost your human self _replaces_ the energy mass."

"That's what I was thinking," Danny stated, before moving to jump off the table. "Hang on, I wanna try something," He added and calmly closed his eyes to turn his focus inward, until he felt what could only be described as a _warmth_ at his core, which he then prodded the same way he had done to activate his various powers, until finally the warmth spread through his body to seemingly _contain_ the cold that was currently in control, until finally the two had swapped places.

"I'm impressed," Sam spoke up, causing him to open his eyes again, realizing quickly that he couldn't see her as well as he had a moment ago, but he soon adjusted to the light all the same and reached up to touch the end of his hair, noticing that it was once again black.

"It worked," He quailed with excitement, admittedly kind of proud of himself.

"Yeah, how'd ya do it?" Tuck asked next, causing Danny's smile to drop.

"I'm – not even gonna _try_ to explain it," He proclaimed, causing them to laugh.

"Alright, well, maybe that'll be enough for you to get some sleep anyway," Sam encouraged as Tucker moved to turn off the scanner, only to be interrupted.

"Wait," Danny called and he paused, "Can you run one more test, I want to make sure my human half isn't falling apart or anything?"

"Yeah, sure," His friend answered as he started the thing again and Danny moved to lie back on the table, "You look fine," Tucker announced after another minute and turned the screen so Danny could see it, "In fact, it looks like your human half is becoming more _dominant_ ; it was your ghost DNA before, but that's probably because your human side is your most stable and _natural_ form. It's safe to assume it'll probably become your _default_ position from now on."

"Probably," Danny agreed quietly, before sitting up again, "At least I'm not becoming more _ghost_ ," He added with relief as he jumped to the ground, allowing Tucker to turn the machine off again as they finally headed back to the stairs.

"So, you gonna try the superhero thing?" Sam put in with a grin, causing him to sigh.

"You're not gonna let that go, are you?"

"I just don't want you to have any regrets," She admitted, "If you take your powers away you might _never_ get them back. It's best to exhaust _all_ of your resources first."

"Why is it that you're always right?" He muttered as they arrived back in the kitchen.

"It's a gift," She proclaimed sassily and he laughed.

"Alright, I'll give it a try," He relented and she smiled.

"Which _means_ –" Tucker began again, with much too much vigor on his part, "You're gonna need a cool _battle_ _cry_ ," He finished purposely, causing them to sigh loudly.

"Tucker, I am _not_ saying that."

"Oh, come on, just _once_ ," He begged and Danny quietly ran a hand down his face tiredly, before glaring at his friend, who really _had_ done quite a bit to help him the last day.

So, it was with this in mind, that Danny went to check the living room entrance, just to make sure no one else was awake, before walking back to the middle of the kitchen to focus on the cold at his core again and throw his hands in the air superman style.

"I'm Goin' Ghost," He called out quietly, causing the two rings of light to engulf him again and a moment later he stood before them in his ghost form, "There – ya _happy_?" He muttered as he friend grinned from ear to ear.

"Ecstatic!"

With that, Danny just shook his head, but smiled despite himself and was about to change back when he noticed Sam frowning at him thoughtfully, "What?" He asked, quickly looking around, slightly afraid that he had grown a tail and not realized it.

"Nothing, I just –" She started carefully, "I wasn't thinking, if you're gonna be a superhero, you're gonna need a _secret_ _identity_ ," She revealed, causing him to think that over for a moment and shrugged in agreement.

"What did you have in mind?" He asked and she smiled.

"Phantom," She answered immediately, " _Danny Phantom_."

The End

* * *

Hope you enjoyed


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